Source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette, by Mike Linn
August 11, 2007

A Ouachita County lake once opened to the public has been officially deemed private, infuriating residents who frequented the popular fishing hole for decades.

Glenn Bolick, a spokesman for the state Highway and Transportation Department, said Friday that a gate blocking access to Woodard Lake, four miles east of Camden, will remain up, preventing fishermen from using a state right of way to launch their boats.

Earlier this week, the Highway Department still was researching whether the 40-acre natural lake was public or private. On Friday, Bolick said the department now agrees with legal documents and opinions from property owner Cal Partee Jr. and officials at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

“We came to a conclusion that what we did [putting up the gate ] was the right thing to do, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Bolick said.

But some fishermen are considering taking their case before a judge.

“There’s a lot of mad people in this county,” Braxton “B. B.” Thomas, 76, said after hearing of the Highway Department’s decision. “I don’t know what’s going to become of it, but it’s a mess. It’s not settled.”

Thomas, who lives within two miles of the lake, said he has fished the lake at least once a week most of his life. He remembers catching his limit in crappie on several occasions.

“People have fished there for years and years and years and years,” he said. “I wish I had the money to buy [Partee ] out. People could fish it if I owned it. I guarantee it.”

State officials say the lake is private because Partee owns its entire shoreline. The lake also is considered private because it can’t be accessed from the Ouachita River when the river is at a normal water level, said David Goad, deputy director of the Game and Fish Commission. Fisherman can access the lake from the river only when it floods.

At Partee’s request, the department erected a small fence and the gate five weeks ago to prevent people from using a state right of way that leads to the lake. The gate was torn down twice and put back up both times.

The state right of way has been on the property since at least 1973, when the state built a U. S. 79 connector bridge over the lake.

The state’s initial decision to close off access to the lake prompted more than 50 complaints to Ouachita County Judge Mike Hesterly. Other residents called the Highway Department, the Game and Fish Commission and the governor’s office.

Thomas and other residents, including the Ouachita County judge, have argued the lake is public because it was once part of the river and it could be accessed on the state right of way, which leads to the shoreline.

“The lake has been public for years,” said Allen Dunn, 78, and one of Thomas’ fishing buddies.

Partee said Friday that he purchased the land surrounding the lake and the lake itself in December. He said he knew the lake wasn’t public and wasn’t surprised by the state’s final decision. He said he regrets the resentment the situation has caused for residents.

Because Woodard Lake is no longer open to the public, Goad said the commission no longer will stock it with catfish, something it has done every year since 1988. The lake also is loaded with bream, crappie and bass.

While Goad said residents can’t go through private property without the owner’s permission to gain access to an enclosed lake, a court case in 1999 decided that residents can cut through private property to access a public river.

In 1994, nine duck hunters sued Gary Gazaway of Pocahontas for access across his land to a boat launch on the Black River. Gazaway closed a road leading to the ramp to protect the remains of an American Indian he found buried in his field next to the access road.

The hunters claimed they had used his road for years and it should be considered a public road.

Gazaway lost his case in Randolph County Chancery Court in 1999, as the court ordered the road opened under a prescriptive easement clause in the Arkansas Constitution. The court ruled that because the road had been used so long in the past by the public, it should remain open.

Two years later, the Game and Fish Commission purchased the road for $ 100, 000.

Goad noted that some of the cases aren’t “cut-and-dry” and need to be decided by a judge.

Woodard Lake once was part of the Ouachita River but became isolated as the river shifted, possibly hundreds of years ago, said Jason Olive, assistant district fisheries biologist at the Camden regional office. It would have been public then because fishermen could navigate to it from the river.

Dunn, who lives near the lake, is also upset with the state for granting Partee’s request when in the past they denied a request from at least one other property owner to block access from the state right of way.

Another fisherman, Clifton Brodnax of Camden, said he’s even more upset that the state paid to erect the fence and gate. The state had to pay the cost, which was less than $ 400, because the fence and gate are on a state right of way.

Brodnax said a handful of residents may soon seek a court injunction to have the gate removed until a judge can determine whether the lake is public of private.

“This thing ain’t over,” he said. Information for this article was contributed by Kenneth Heard of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.